I Was Betrayed by My Childhood Friend, so I Won’t Lie to Myself Anymore

Episode 29 – At the Ball Competition ①

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“Ryouma !”

“Ouu!”

Swoosh

Pasun

(SFX)

“Woww – !!! He made another three, that number four!!”

“How many points is that?”

He wipes off his sweat and returns to the other side, where he is in a 1-on-1 situation with his fast-attacking opponent.

“Ugh! Saeki.
You can move better than your regular basketball teammates! You play really well, let’s join us in the nationals !!”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to spend on club activities.”

In a moment, he passed through the space and cut the ball.

“Are you f*king seriously !!!”

“Asahi !!!”

He threw the ball with one hand to Asahi, who was waiting in front of the goal.

Bashingg !!!!

“!!!! Hey !!”

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Pippi !!!

“Game set ! 2 to 64, 1-A for the win!”

Wa~!!!!

“Yosh!”

I looked up toward the cheering section where Koharu was and raised my arms, smiling that I had won.

Kyaa ~!!!!

“There goes Saeki kun’s smile!”

“I know it’s for Igarashi san, but I can’t do it! I love you!”

“Ambulance !!! Two female students fainted!!”

“Hey! Saeki! Stop smiling!!!

“Ee…….”

The health committee boys snapped at me unreasonably, but when I turned to Koharu once more, she smiled.

I wanted to be healed a little more, but the lineup took place there, so I went back to the court and was asked to shake hands with the boys from the basketball team ahead of me.

“I couldn’t get a hold of you.
I knew it,  you have to go to the nationals with us.
I’m not gonna give up on you!”

“No, I don’t do club activities…”

After that, I played with the second and third years who had won, but the basketball team who had participated were inviting them  to join the club in the same way. 

“With me and you together, the two of us won’t lose to anyone! Please!” 

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“I’ll be your shadow.
You, the light, should be with me.”

“If you don’t join the basketball team, that’s the end of your school career.”

The last guy was almost threatening, they all politely declined. 

Then came the final match.

Of course the other party is a senpai from the basketball team and captain of the team, apparently. 

“I guess it’s tough indeed~.
Hey, Ryouma.”

“hmm~You don’t know unless you try.
As long as we can stop that captain, we’ll get by.”

“Sa-Saeki ! You’ve made it this far and we’ll do our best!!”

“I-I’ll do my best!”

Two of my classmates seemed to be in high spirits.

“Mou.
Nakanishi and Imahara.
If you think you can make a decision, you can shoot.
Besides, there’s also Sasajima, the next ace of the basketball team.Sasajima, me and Asahi will hold them off, and I’ll leave the scoring to you.”

“Oh ! finally ! I seriously don’t want to get involved with Kunimatsu san, so thank goodness for that! But, I’m not good with three on three, so I’ll pass it to Saeki !” 

Sasajima had told me that he had little stamina and would mainly play defense except at the end, so we had been scoring the points, but in the final, I would let him run wild as much as he wanted.

As we were getting ready for the next one, a senior walked toward our bench and called us out. 

“You ☆ That earlier fight was amazing ♪”

“Well, thank you.”

“Yes yes.
You must be Saeki Ryouma right? whose name I’ve heard a lot recently.
You’re dating Koharu chan.”

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Although I felt bad about the way the senior said it, I nodded. 

“…..is that it.”

“Oh, I knew it ♪….  I have a favor to ask you ♪” 

“Favor?”

When I asked the senior again, he raised the corners of his  mouth while making a suggestion. 

“Ah yeah, if I win this match, will you give her to me?” 

“Ha?”

I was annoyed by the joke suggestion and glared at him, regardless of the fact that he was a senior.

“Oops.
Don’t make such a scary face~.
If someone suddenly said that to you, I understand that you would be angry.
But you know, I’ve had my eye on her since the first day of school.
If it weren’t for the club activities, I would have appealed earlier, but the tournament was coming up, you know, and I was holding back like that, and you took it, you know? So it’s not strange for me to ask for it, is it? I hope you’ll be grateful that I’m asking.
Besides–”

“Blabbering around just because you’re a senior.” 

I couldn’t stand the selfishness of that senior, so I interrupted him. 

The senior looked surprised, as if he thought that I would obediently agree with him.
However, I couldn’t stand it and was agitated towards the senior. 

“If you like her so much, why don’t you confess to her? She’s the one who chooses.
Well, I don’t think I’ll lose.”

When I said this, the fresh smile on his face changed to a grim one.

“What….?”

“How should I put it? The reason she was taken in the first place was because Senpai didn’t act, right? Please don’t make accusations that Koharu was taken when she is not even Senpai’s girlfriend.”

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“This kid…!!! Hey, don’t get cocky because I’m not good enough!”

“Hey, I thought the second person was you?”

I approach the senior who looks like he is about to hit me and whisper his ear while imitating the first senior.

“….Don’t treat a girl like a thing, you son of a bitch.
♪ Oh, and I don’t take bets, so there’s no advantage for me…..Well, the game is about to start, so please come back as soon as possible.
S・E・N・P・A・I.”

“Ugh~!!! I’ll make you regret this!!”

The senior who couldn’t hide his annoyance, returned while slamming his foot without a trace of the fresh atmosphere he had shown when he came here. 

“Hyuu～, you tell him.  Making Kunimatsu san mad like that… You’re really interesting….ssh Ryouma! I don’t care if they’re third year.
We’ll definitely win.”  

Instead of getting angry at me for responding like that to his senpai, he called me by my first name and clasped my shoulders, to which I responded in the same way. 

“That’s my plan Kouhei, the three of us should go.” 

[[Ou !]] 

We all lined up on the court, and I stood in front of my senpai as I smiled at him. 

“I look forward to working with you.” 

“Yeah, I’m gonna beat the crap out of you !” 

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(TL/A : Tbh, I’m not that keen on “sports” arc but yeah….character development..)